Open Doors
by Once Upon a Whim
Summary: An additional scene for ‘Pulp Friction.’ The night of Luke and Lorelai’s first date after getting back together. LL


**Open Doors**

**An additional scene for 'Pulp Friction.' The night of Luke and Lorelai's first date after getting back together.**

**L/L**

**Ok, I know the underlying theme here might seem a little redundant if you've read my 'Eggs, Goats, and Possibility' story, but I couldn't help myself. The whole thing back at the house with having Kirk around, the worrying about Rory, and the mom-card comment... It just screamed parenting, like they were playing house or something. (Also, I had the bulk of this written long before Luke made any mention of a family, or Lorelai had her little breakfast scene with her three 'kids' in 'Live and Let Diorama,' so my portrayal of their growing parental leanings is just a happy accident.)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Gilmore Girls, except for the Season 1 and 2 dvd sets, and this little tangent to an episode. Everything else is the WB's and the Palladinos'.**

**(Logistical note: Considering the whole 'come and get it' conversation between Lorelai and Rory and the awkwardness at the beginning of the date, I got the impression that despite the kiss at the end of 'So… Good Talk,' there had been no reunion sex yet. So that's what I'm assuming for the purposes of this story.)  
**

**Anyway, here's where my imagination took that one... Feedback is always much appreciated :)**

Glancing at the clock on the VCR, Lorelai sighed. She'd already given up on the quickly melting ice cream and nestled herself on the couch to watch a little TV in her pajamas. Not exactly what she'd had in mind for the night of her first date after getting back together with Luke, but the activities she was looking forward to definitely required his presence, and he was, she assumed, still chasing after Kirk. And had been for over twenty minutes…

She startled as she finally heard the front door fly open, complete with scuffling and some muffled cursing from Luke. Questions were already on the tip of her tongue as she glanced over toward the door, but a stern glare from Luke told her that it wasn't the time. Knowing he was probably as frustrated as she was about the whole Kirk situation, Lorelai contritely kept her mouth shut for the moment, though she did turn off the television in anticipation of what would surely be an interesting tale once she managed to drag it out of him. The whole mess _was_ indirectly his fault after all; he had to let her laugh at it a little.

A few moments later, she heard Luke's footsteps on the kitchen floor.

"So where'd you have to chase him to?" Lorelai asked curiously over her shoulder as Luke shut the door to Rory's room, "I was beginning to think you'd switched teams on me and decided you liked following Kirk and his naked butt around."

Luke, already visibly exasperated and obviously not appreciative of her joking, sent another one of his stern looks in her direction before his expression softened a bit. With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, he collapsed onto the couch next to her. "Nowhere. The freakin' nutcase didn't even go anywhere. He took off at full speed down the street and must have come right back." Luke shook his head in annoyed disbelief before continuing, "So I go chasing after him, but I lose him, and I end up wandering town for half an hour trying to find him. Finally I say screw it, come back here, and he's asleep on the porch…"

Lorelai's laugh cut him off, "You're kidding!" she chuckled. "He was out there the whole time?"

"Must have been," Luke glowered, "Fuckin' Kirk…"

"Hey, hey," Lorelai scolded softly, rubbing Luke's arm in an effort to calm him down a bit. "It's all good, he's back, you're back, there's no open doors anymore…" With a coquettish grin, she inched as close to him as humanly possible before adding, "And I'm here too. So really, does Kirk matter at all?"

Even Luke had to agree with that, smiling slightly as he nodded, leaning in toward her. He hovered momentarily, their breath mingling teasingly before their lips finally met in a sweet kiss that told Lorelai that all things Kirk were forgotten.

When they parted, Luke settled Lorelai against him, and looked down at her in concern, recalling the point at which they'd left the previous conversation, "You ok?"

"Hmm?" Lorelai responded, too happy to be snuggled up in Luke's arms to bother discerning what he was referring to.

Using the back of his hand to gently turn her face towards his, Luke rephrased his question, "With the whole Rory and Robert and whoever thing and your mom card... You ok?"

With pursed lips, Lorelai let out a soft snort, "I have to be, don't I?"

Luke nodded before dropping a kiss on Lorelai's head, "She's doing fine"

"I hope so," Lorelai sighed in resignation.

The pair sat together in silence for a few moments, Lorelai's head resting on Luke's chest, Luke's hand drifting aimlessly over her body, sliding underneath the bottom of her sweatshirt from time to time.

Lorelai was drawn from her reverie as one particular wandering of his hand inched higher and higher up her torso. "Heading towards dangerous territory there my friend," she smirked, eyeing Luke with a raised eyebrow.

Luke raised an eyebrow of his own in return, "You complaining?"

Lorelai grinned broadly for a split second before climbing onto his lap and crushing her lips to his, her response of "No" to his question never even making it out of her mouth.

Tongues dueled, hands roamed, desperate breathy sighs and soft complaints slipped out over Lorelai having changed out of her dress and into pajamas far too early… The frustration of weeks apart and the elation over their emotional reunion took over for both of them, neither having a care in the world aside from the absolute need to lose themselves in each other…

Until Luke pulled away awkwardly.

Yanking his hands out from under her shirt, he raked one through his now mussed hair, sputtering as he did, "I can't do this, this is too weird."

"What?" Lorelai panted, needing to catch her breath, but none too happy that the opportunity to do so had been forced upon her so suddenly.

"Is this not weird to you?" Gently pushing Lorelai off his lap, Luke squirmed as he posed the question uncomfortably.

Lorelai stammered in protest, "Luke, what? We weren't apart that long..." She _needed _him. And even as she had that very thought, Luke was moving to stand up and leave… She scrambled to her feet, grabbing his hand and meeting his uncomfortable gaze with wide, pleading eyes.

"No, not..." Luke faltered. He could sense Lorelai's insecurities surfacing because he had stopped; he cursed himself inwardly for not being articulate enough to dissuade her fears adequately. He started again, "Uh, not you, not this," he clarified, "This is..." The appreciative expression on his face was more than enough to replace the words he wasn't able to get out.

Lorelai shrugged, uncharacteristically shyly, embarrassed for having been so obviously clingy. She, however, was still perplexed by Luke's sudden avoidance of her. She had just raised her gaze up to his again, questions clear in her eyes, as Luke spat out the rest of his less than graceful explanation of his actions.

"But Kirk is there, and we're here..." He gestured animatedly towards the couch, site of increasingly heated groping until just a moment earlier. "And he's naked!"

Lorelai, both relieved and disgusted by Luke's reasoning, winced at the mental pictures rushing into her brain. "Ok, enter creepy awkwardness factor. Now it's weird," She closed her eyes and shuddered, as if she was trying to physically shake the image of a naked Kirk from her mind. "Wasn't until you brought it up," she continued, "But yeah, definitely just upped the weird factor right there. Damn you," she glared at Luke in mock annoyance.

Luke, upset with the whole turn the evening had taken, didn't quite catch the mocking in Lorelai's tone. Figuring the night was a lost cause, he threw up his hands in defeat, muttering and "Ah, jeez..." as he started for the front door.

Lorelai panicked again, mentally kicking herself for letting Luke know that she, too, was a little creeped out by Kirk being in the next room as they were fooling around. "No, no, come back," she spat out in protest as she chased him down. "I don't care. I don't care if Kirk is here," came her indignant declaration. Grabbing hold of Luke's hands in her own, she continued glibly, hoping she could still convince him to stay. "I can deal with weird, remember who you're talking to here, right?"

Luke was torn, half of him wanting nothing more than to stay, drag Lorelai up to her bedroom and do everything to her that, in large part because of his own stubbornness, he hadn't been able to do in the past few weeks. That would have been the emotional and hormonal half… The logical half just couldn't get past the fact that there was a disturbed man with no clothes on in Rory's bedroom… The logical half eventually turned out to be more than half, winning out and causing Luke to work his hands out of Lorelai's grasp and head towards the door again, "I think I'm just gonna..."

"Luke!" Lorelai shrieked in protest, "No, no way!" Using the end of the couch as a launchpad, she flung herself between him and the foyer, the lack of traction between her socks and the hardwood floor allowing her to slide into perfect position right in front of him. She was not happy at the prospect of Luke ditching her on that particular night, and she let him know it, violently poking at his chest as she continued her protesting, "This is our first night back together, I am _not _letting a naked Kirk chase you away again."

Luke paused, confused, his subconscious apparently having blocked all other instances of naked Kirk from his mind, "Again?" He questioned skeptically.

"At the Dragonfly..." Lorelai reminded him softly, "When you first kissed me."

Realization dawned on Luke's face as he was forced to recall the aspect of that particular evening that he was less than fond of, "And there was a naked Kirk…" he finished knowingly.

"Oh yes," Lorelai nodded, crossing her arms in front of her chest petulantly, "Yes there was."

Luke crossed his own arms in kind, though he did so out of amusement over Lorelai still being so obviously annoyed at Kirk having interrupted them so long ago. "And if he hadn't been there?" he quizzed, an eyebrow raised teasingly.

"Well..." Lorelai began mischievously, her own eyebrows raised, taunting him, as she seductively began to slide down the zipper of her hoodie sweatshirt.

Luke's eyes widened ever so slightly at her insinuation, not quite believing it cold have been true. "You'd have wanted to..." He stammered, gesturing awkwardly to Lorelai's body, "…already?"

Lorelai's hands flew to her hips in a huff, "Hey, you calling me easy?"

Before Luke could even begin to articulate his protest, a wide grin was already spreading on Lorelai's face, "Because I am, you know..." She closed the short distance between them, continuing her explanation as she leaned into him and began toying with the neckline of his shirt, "Believe me Luke, as soon as you first kissed me…" Trailing off, she lifted her gaze to meet his. "Kirk was not the one I wanted to be seeing naked that night…" she finished pointedly.

Her words apparently assuaging Luke's sense of discomfort, at least momentarily, he grasped her waist, holding her to him as he tilted his head towards hers once again.

Just before she allowed their lips to meet, Lorelai breathed out the last fragment of her protest, no longer necessary, "And he's not the one I want to be thinking about tonight either."

What began as a gentle kiss of assurance on Lorelai's part to silently confirm that she, too, had been 'all in' in every way possible since the very first kiss on the Inn's porch, slowly grew more and more heated. Her fingers danced along his skin just above the waist of his pants as he pressed her up against the foyer's doorframe. Her teeth teased his lower lip as his hands worked the zipper of her hoodie, finishing the job she had begun a moment ago. The sweatshirt became the first casualty of the evening…

With Lorelai left with only a thin tank top for a shirt, Luke's focus immediately became dropping delicate kisses down her neck, across her collarbone…

He'd barely begun when a hitch in Lorelai's breathing snapped him back to reality. The trail of kisses came to a crashing halt as he leaned his forehead against her shoulder with a sigh of defeat.

Lorelai, having been lost in a daze of sensation, took a moment to realize that Luke had stopped. Even then, she wasn't able to formulate an actual question, just a "Hm?" of curiosity.

"I'm sorry, he's still in there…" Luke groaned, not even lifting his head up from its current perch.

Lorelai did it for him, pushing him away from her with a frustrated whine, "Luke!"

He shrugged apologetically, gesturing again in the direction of Rory's room.

"Is it better if we go upstairs?" Lorelai pleaded, her eyes bright and playful, "Because I'm all about the going upstairs…" Despite Luke's initial protest, she leaned into him, kissing him, drawing him to her as she carefully made her way backwards up the stairs.

The next casualty was Luke's shirt, it too falling to the floor as kisses and fumbling grew more frantic. This time, Luke managed to stay focused longer… Only when he felt Lorelai going for his belt buckle did he pull away again, "I can't do this," he reiterated, closing his hands over Lorelai's to stop her.

"I'm thinking you can, actually…" Lorelai stated matter-of-factly, no longer wanting to negotiate. She let her hand stray a bit lower than its previous resting place on his belt buckle, seeking out the evidence that Luke was actually more than up for the task at hand…

"Lorelai…" Luke growled a warning, less-than-gently removing her hand.

"Lu-uke..." Lorelai whined impatiently, waving her arms in a definite indication she was already halfway to a hissy-fit. She really did just want to _be_ with Luke again, and she was cursing out Kirk in her mind for having thrown a wrench into her plans and messing with Luke's mind.

Wanting to appease Lorelai, Luke moved to sit at the edge of the bed as he tried to figure out what he could say to her. It obviously wasn't that he didn't want the same thing she did… "You know I want to, I know you want to…" He trailed off, seeing that Lorelai's slightly annoyed expression was not waning. "I just... It's Kirk," he stated plainly, unsure of how much more clear he could make himself.

And Lorelai did understand what he was saying, she just wasn't sure why it mattered so much… She made her way over to the bed, sitting down beside Luke, wondering if perhaps humor could help him get over his little performance anxiety issue. "You know," she began lightly, "I'm starting to get concerned that it's our first night back together, and here I am trying to take off your pants, throwing myself at you, and apparently all you can think about is Kirk!" Giving him a sidelong glance, she put on her best pout, "You sure do know how to crush a girl's self-esteem…"

"Lorelai," Luke sent a withering glare in her direction before continuing his explanation a little more amicably, "I'm just not used to having other people around when we… you know…" He just waved his hand over the bed behind them, as he was of the 'less talk, more action' mindset, especially when it came to the whole uncomfortable verbalizing on the whole sex topic. With a glowering look towards the direction of the stairs, he added, "Especially ones who have tendencies to wander at night."

Lorelai shrank away from him in amused shock, and subsequently let out a wail of protest, "You're fine when Rory's here!"

"We're usually at my place when she's home," Luke replied, trying in vain to reason with her. Not that it was an easy task normally, but he was fighting a losing battle considering that she was now not only Lorelai Gilmore, but a sex-starved one at that.

"But not always," Lorelai retorted, "And you're fine when we're here and she's here and we're having all the sex and she's down there…"

She was cut off by Luke's violent hiss of a response, "Not at first! It was weird, it's her house and she's your kid, and I'm..." His eloquently hostile rebuttal gradually trailed off as he once again grew uncomfortable with the topic at hand, "…_with_ you. But she's got a head on her shoulders. She knows what's going on. And she doesn't wander around at night. But it's _Kirk_," he placed knowing emphasis on the name before reiterating his point flatly without making eye contact with Lorelai, "He will. And it's weird."

Finally realizing the ramifications Luke's little insecurities could have on the future of her entire sex life, never mind on that particular night, Lorelai's eyes went wide, aghast, "Luke, there's going to be people here sometimes!"

"Who?" Luke scoffed.

"I don't know!" Lorelai exclaimed, wracking her brain for any sort of feasible scenario she could use against him, "What if Jackson goes nuts and kicks Sookie out, she'll crash here. And she sleepwalks," she added for good measure, though she wasn't really sure if that was the case or not. "Any sex then?" she demanded pointedly, her arms again crossed in front of her chest.

"Lorelai..." Luke was not liking where he saw her taking this conversation, though he was sure once she got going, he was not going to be able to stop her…

He was right. Once Lorelai had that first example pop into her brain, they just kept coming… "Or what if Rory brings Paris or Lane or whoever here? Drunk college kids wander at night! No sex then either?" she cried incredulously.

Luke was trying in earnest to remain calm… "Lorelai…"

"Or what if my parents pull the crazy separation thing again?" Lorelai hypothesized as she leapt up from the bed to point accusingly at Luke, "And one of them comes here? What then?"

"Lorel…"

She cut Luke off with a wave of her hand, re-thinking her previous scenario, "Ok, yeah, fine, I wouldn't do it then either…" she begrudgingly admitted.

Luke attempted to start speaking again, "Lorelai..."

Lorelai wasn't quite done yet, words flying out of her mouth before she had a chance to realize what she was saying, "Well what happens when we've got kids figuring out how to climb out of the crib at night?"

"Lo…" Luke started, her words not quite registering right away. When they did, he practically did a double take as he trailed off, a stunned expression overtaking his features, "Wha?"

Finally realizing what she herself had said, Lorelai's hand flew up to cover her mouth as her eyes grew wide with a stunned expression of her own. "I didn't mean that," she spat out as quickly as possible as she again lowered herself to a sitting position on the bed.

"Our ki..." Gaping in Lorelai's general direction, Luke was still in shock; he couldn't even formulate the entire word on his own.

"I didn't say that," Lorelai moaned, squeezing her eyes shut. "I didn't say anything," she wailed as she flopped backwards dramatically to bury her face in a pillow, embarrassed at such a careless slip of words so soon after getting back together…

Finally regaining some of his senses, Luke turned himself around on the edge of the bed to face her. He gently placed a tentative hand on her leg, trying to coax her into coming out of hiding, "Lorelai..."

All he got was a muffled groan from somewhere under her pillow, "Mmmph."

"Lorelai," Luke repeated, slightly more sternly, "I'm sorry, but you've gotta help me out here," he begged, unsure of what she might have been implying and growing more and more apprehensive by the second, "Do we have children climbing out of cribs?" Lorelai shot up into a sitting position upon hearing that. "Or one?" Luke rephrased nervously, pointing to Lorelai's as-yet flat stomach, wondering in the back of his mind how far along she would hypothetically be, considering they hadn't been together in nearly a month…

"What?" Lorelai stammered as her hands flew to cover her stomach, "No, Luke… No." She forced an apologetic smile for him, "I'm sorry, just ignore me, I'm crazy, you know that. I never should have said that, and now you're looking at me like I'm crazier, and we're just barely back together and ok here, and now you're freaked out, and I'm freaked out and I'm rambling, and now I'm rambling about rambling, and…"

Luke knew he had to put an end to Lorelai's increasingly hysterical-sounding monologue. Even as he raised his hand to place a finger over her lips, he could see unshed tears shining in her eyes. "Stop," he hushed her.

Lorelai did acquiesce, and the pair sat in silence for a moment, each lost in their own emotions over w hat had just transpired.

Finally, it was Luke who spoke up, forcing himself to get the words out, "We need to talk here."

"Luke, no, it was stupid of me..." Lorelai protested, frantically trying to avoid the awkwardness that would surely come with the conversation Luke was wanting to have.

Luke wasn't particularly fond of the prospect such a conversation held either, but given everything that had already happened, he wasn't about to let the opportunity slide, "No," he stated resolutely, "No. This needs to be talked about now. We just tried the not talking, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it went so well." He eyed her pointedly with his last statement, knowing that even she couldn't argue that point.

"Yeah..." Lorelai admitted sheepishly, reluctantly. As much as she was afraid of the talk she was about to be forced to have, she was desperately more afraid of losing him again because of her own stupidity and insecurities.

After another moment of neither speaking, Luke felt he had to clarify one thing before they discussed anything else. Gesturing to her mid-section once again, he cleared his throat awkwardly, "But you're not… now?"

"No, I'm…" Lorelai confirmed – _sadly?_ Luke wondered – shaking her head, "No."

That issue out of the way, Luke re-focused on trying to get to the bottom of Lorelai's initial words, "So if you're not..." he prodded, "Then what...?" He trailed off, hoping _she'd_ understand _his_ need to understand _her_.

With a resigned sigh, Lorelai let it out, "Honestly Luke? At that moment, it really did mean nothing. I really was just trying to get you to give it up," she gave him a naughty smirk before continuing more sincerely, "It's our first night back together, and I just want to _be_ with you."

Touched by her raw emotion, Luke agreed sympathetically, still mentally cursing Kirk for – well, for existing, "I know, I know..." He placed an arm around Lorelai's shoulders soothingly as a peace offering before hitting her with his next question, "But kids?"

Hearing that, Lorelai shrugged his arm off as she replied defensively, "It was on my mind recently, ok?"

Luke wasn't sure how to take that. Repeating seemed the safest thing to do… "Kids were."

"Not just kids," Lorelai admitted reluctantly, avoiding Luke's gaze all the while, "Stuff."

"Huh…" Luke knew he need not say more. Lorelai had more to say, and he was going to let her say it.

She took a quick breath to maintain her composure before she made her next attempt at getting her feelings across, "You were... Well, as far as I knew, we weren't anything anymore. And like I said, it sucked." Looking up, she finally allowed her gaze to meet Luke's upon uttering those words. She was half-relieved to see that he was nearly as close to the verge of tears as she was, "I hated it Luke, all I kept seeing was everything that wasn't a possibility any more."

Luke managed a smile through his misty eyes as he choked out, "And you thought kids were?"

"No," Lorelai replied quickly, out of instinct more than anything. Of course, she immediately bit her lip sheepishly and admitted, "Yeah... I don't..." She paused pensively, collecting her thoughts and trying to figure out how she could put it for him, "Well I know we'd never even gotten near the subject, but you said that you were all in, so, yeah, maybe..." She trailed off cautiously, trying not to appear too hopeful as she met Luke's eyes again.

"They were," Luke confirmed with a genuine smile, pulling Lorelai into a tight hug. "They are," he added, murmuring into her hair, "They will be. A possibility."

Lorelai pulled back from him, a few stray tears gracing her cheeks, "Really?"

Luke nodded, framing her face with his hands and pulling her in for a sweet kiss that held all the promises for the future between them, those spoken and unspoken.

As emotions took over, and the heat of the kiss escalated, Lorelai deftly climbed onto Luke and carefully pushed him down until she was lying half on top of him. All insecurities and embarrassment were out the window as she breathed him in. It wasn't long before one of her hands had wandered back down to his belt buckle…

The first brush of her fingers sent Luke's hand right down there as well, to grab hers and prevent things from going any farther. "That, however is not a possibility, not tonight," he scolded. "Kirk is still downstairs. And it's still freakin' me out. So get away from me." With that, he shoved her unceremoniously off him towards her side of the bed.

In full prone position, Lorelai scowling at the ceiling, arms indignantly over her chest again, "You're no fun."

Luke laughed as he flipped off the lights and finally took his pants off himself, though purely for sleeping purposes. As he climbed into bed and under the covers, he dropped a kiss on her forehead, "You'll survive."

"Mean," she pouted, refusing to remove her gaze from the ceiling to look at him.

Luke chuckled, knowing that if she was acting like this, everything was back to normal. Ignoring her less than forgiving posture, he sidled up to her, tucking her against him as best he could and wrapping an arm around her waist. Closing his eyes, he whispered in her ear, "Sleep…"

And as much as she wanted to hold out to prove her point, Lorelai certainly wasn't made of stone. She finally had Luke back in her bed, so she was going to take whatever she could get. Relaxing her stiff pose, she curled up, nestling herself against Luke's bare chest for what felt like the first time in forever… "I'm glad you're here," she breathed in the slightest of whispers.

She could feel Luke smile behind her, "Me too."

Luke had almost drifted off to sleep when Lorelai piped up again meekly, "Luke?"

"Hm?" he mumbled sleepily.

Lorelai turned in his arms to face him, just barely able to make out his features in the soft moonlight that danced in through the window, "Had you thought about it before?"

Luke squinted at her, finally opening his eyes again, as he answered, "Not having sex with you?" he joked, "Yeah, lived it until last year. Got pretty good at it too."

"Dirty!" Lorelai giggled, swatting at his leg under the sheets before setting him on the right track, "No... Kids. Us," she clarified hesitantly.

Luke sighed, hedging as he didn't really know how to answer her, "No, not really…"

"Oh…" Lorelai, valiantly as she may have tried to hide her disappointment, was visibly upset by his response, even in the darkened room.

And Luke had damage control to do – he should have seen that coming, "Hey," he soothed her, bringing his hand up to her cheek, "No, that's not what I…" His lack of eloquence astounded even him sometimes… Taking a deep breath to re-group, he started over, trying to comfort Lorelai and explain that the fact he hadn't had kid thoughts yet wasn't a bad thing, "Look, I know it's been a while now, but you've gotta believe me when I say _I_ still can't believe I've gotten to this point with you Lorelai, that we've made it here. I couldn't _let_ myself let kids be anywhere on the radar yet. But just because I didn't really think about it doesn't mean it's a _bad_ thing. I mean, when you said… that thing there, and for a second I thought you might be..." He paused as Lorelai's expression grew hopeful once again, "It'd be a good thing."

"Really?" She grinned giddily.

Luke nodded, cracking a small smile of his own.

"Good," Lorelai nodded in agreement.

"But..." Luke hesitated, not wanting to upset Lorelai again, but needing to get something else off his chest. "Not now, or soon or anything... right? Slow is good, especially after things..."

"Yeah, no, exactly..." Lorelai agreed genuinely – the last thing she wanted to do was rush things and send him running for the hills again. "Just...," she paused, "We're keeping that door open. It's good," she smiled up at him, content.

"Yeah, it is," Luke replied as he settled his head down on the pillow again.

A few scant moments of half-sleep passed before Lorelai broke the silence again, "Hey Luke?"

"Hm?"

"Um, in all this hypothetical kid-ness…" she began quietly. "Kid or kid…dzz?" came the next question, unmistakable emphasis on the plural.

"Jeez, I don't know…" Luke groaned, wanting to have the conversation, knowing they needed to have the conversation, but not really wanting it to happen as he was half asleep… "Hypothetically… I don't know, kids, I guess? Don't only children end up spoiled and they don't share and stuff?" Fatigue had apparently clouded his judgment a bit, leaving him to temporarily forget the familial situation of the person he was currently addressing…

Lorelai caught the insinuation, screeching immediately, "Hey! I resent that!" She punched him playfully, as she continued teasingly, "So would my daughter, my _only_ child, if she was here…"

Luke smirked, "If Rory was here," he said, pointing to an arbitrary space between them on the bed, "There'd be a little more to worry about than me saying only children are spoiled."

"Funny," Lorelai stuck her tongue out at him.

"I thought so," Luke replied, cocky before he turned serious again. "I just mean that I think it's good to have a sibling around when you're growing up. As much as you hate them when you're little. And later when you're not little…" he added, reflecting slightly on his own sibling situation. "Still good experience, you know?"

"No, obviously _I_ don't," Lorelai called him on his slip-up from a moment ago. "But I did always wish I had someone else around," she admitted, "To take the blame for things if nothing else…"

Luke rolled his eyes at the classic Lorelai in that statement, "See, perfect reason," he stated sarcastically.

Lorelai grinned, "Yeah." She traced random doodles on his chest with her finger for a minute before batting her eyes up at him playfully, "You know, Luke…"

"What?" he growled, the need for sleep finally beginning to edge out the need to protect Lorelai's feelings.

Not that Lorelai cared, she still had an agenda to stick to. "To get that 's' on the end of kid, you eventually have to have sex with the first one in the house…"

Luke rubbed his eyes. He was not liking where it looked like she was taking this… "And…"

"I'm just saying," Lorelai explained with false innocence, even as she moved to crawl over him, "If you're gonna have to do it then, you might as well just get over it and do it now too."

"Lorelai…" Luke warned as he rolled over, strategically depositing Lorelai back on the bed.

With a huff, she turned away from him. "Fine," she relented, pouting once again.

Luke shook his head as he eyed her before rearranging his pillow and lying back down, "Like I said you'll live."

"Yeah, we'll see…" Lorelai challenged stubbornly, "Maybe I won't. And then who's going to have your hypothetical kids? Huh?" she taunted him, a hint of a dare in her voice.

"Just you," Luke replied, fully nonchalant, "Wouldn't want what's left of your 'Mom-card' to go to waste, right?"

Lorelai smiled – how could she stay annoyed with that? Turning back over, she snuggled back up to him, "Right," she confirmed. "So… Hypothetically… Kids?"

Luke opened one eye to regard her as he answered with a tired sigh, "We're not closing the door on the possibility."

At that, Lorelai leaned in for a kiss. Far more chaste than what she would have hoped for had the turn of the night's events been a little different, but she still couldn't complain. She grinned against Luke's lips, "I like the not closing of doors, Luke."

"Me too," Luke agreed sleepily. "But we did close some," he added matter-of-factly as an afterthought.

Lorelai cocked her head, confused, "What?"

"Kirk? After the first run away?" Luke reminded her incredulously, "You _did _lock the back door too right?"

A split second passed before the look of horror washed over Lorelai's face, "Shit!" She leapt out of bed, covers flying as she dashed down the stairs, "Kirk!"

Back in the bed, Luke just chuckled, staring after Lorelai through the open door of her room. _It was good to be back…_

_**Fin**_


End file.
